AROUND THE WORLD.

Mubarak expected to declare for 5th term

CAIRO, EGYPT — Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president for 24 years, will announce his candidacy for a fifth term Thursday, officials said.

He is expected to announce in Shibin al-Kom, the Nile Delta village where he was born 77 years ago. His party will nominate him. The election is Sept. 7.

Beyond the election is another for parliament in November that will be viewed in the United States and elsewhere as the barometer of whether Mubarak will inaugurate long-awaited reform.

"Everything in the next year will depend on what happens in the next few months," said Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "It's a critical moment."

Hardly anyone in Egypt--a nation of 77 million--views Mubarak's days as numbered, barring problems with his health or a decision to step down.